News Brief

12/24/2012, Tevet 11, 5773

Uzi Landau Defends Construction in Jerusalem

Minister of Energy and Water Resources Uzi Landau spoke about the utmost importance of a united and undivided Jerusalem, Monday, during a visit to the Ir David (City of David) neighborhood, just outside Jerusalem's Old City, joining a group of HaLikud-Yisrael Beyteinu Anglo supporters on a special tour with the site's directors. Minister Landau said: "It is not my first time here by far, but each time I visit there are new things to see, with new excavations all the time. Each layer of this historic site reveals discoveries that help us understand more and more about vast amount of archaeological material, ever improving our understanding of life in the days of King David's Jerusalem."

Responding to recent criticism from the members of the international community regarding building in Jerusalem he said, "We will continue to build in Jerusalem, not because we need security, but because it is ours and that is the natural thing to do. Israel will continue to do in Jerusalem as the British do in London, as the French do in Paris and as the Americans do in Washington, DC. Doctor Landau continued, "Ben-Gurion declared the state despite American threats of sanctions, and when they warned him on Jerusalem he moved the Knesset here. Begin, Gold Meir, Eshkol, they all responded the same, they built Ramot, Pisgat Ze'ev, Gilo and so on. I invite all of our European colleagues to come and visit this place. At least then if they have criticism it will not be based on ignorance." He concluded, "Jerusalem is not the story of a decade it is the story of 3,000 years."